If Amy Seeks You
by Qwisse
Summary: "I need you," she said. "You mean everything to me," she said. "If you go now, I will just die," she said. "Oh, shut up already and keep pushing the rock!" he snapped.
1. Part 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the characters and locales. SEGA does.

* * *

**Part 1.**

.w.

"…_No_, you can't have it. You've got a hammer already."

The pink hedgehog's face puckered up as Shadow relieved her of a trophy gun. Despite being plentiful in this part of the Cryptic Castle, Eggman's pawn robots were not overly willing to share their ammunition, and the black hedgehog felt he had to take good care of the loot. He wasn't going to offer weaponry to such an erratic person. More weaponry, at least.

"Why are you _here_ anyway? The faker must be still in Westopolis."

"I'm looking for Cream, my friend."

"Wait, wasn't it the faker?"

"Oh, see, I and Cream were in a hurry to help Sonic fight the black aliens, but then we found this castle and got attacked by Eggman's robots, Cheese ran off and Cream followed him, I tried to follow her, but got blocked by that robot with torches, ooooh my poor dress, it burned a hole in it! So, when I got rid of it, Cream was gone, I went to search for her and wished Sonic was with me, but then I saw you and–"

"All right, _all right_, I get the idea. Too bad that unlike you, I'm not looking for that hedgehog."

After some more roaming around the castle, he looked back and found Amy following him. "Why are you still here?"

"Because you'll lead me to Sonic."

"Hm. Just to let you know: I'm here to find Eggman."

"That's my point."

He swore inwardly and sped up. The last thing he wanted now was another chatty companion. While her not-wanna-be boyfriend and the red echidna were at least good at drawing unwanted attention away from him with their actions, all Amy could do seemed to be gasping when another robot popped up and cheering Shadow on noisily. As long as the dark hedgehog was quick enough to react on the danger, her infamous mallet never left whatever place it remained in.

At this point, Shadow stopped dead in his tracks, letting Amy bump into his shoulder. "What's that? Have you found Eggman?"

She looked forward past him and jumped back with a shriek. An ugly purple mass piled up in a pass before them scattered, making a bundle of _somethings_ with tentacles and singular eyes on top of semi-round bodies. After locating the intruders, the critters hurried towards them as fast as their appendages allowed them to.

"Eeeek! Are they aliens, too?"

"Doesn't look like grown-up alien soldiers," Shadow said, taking a step back to keep distance. "Might be their offsprings."

"Are they using their children during attacks..?"

"Just don't go aww, they might be just as dangerous."

His words proved true as the closest leech-like thing jumped, aiming at his chest. A single gunshot was all it took to turn it into a purple-green mess.

"They are blocking the way," he said in a calm voice, thinking up a way to pass the obstacle. Ammo was scarce, and he didn't feel like touching the ugliness with whatever part of his body.

"What? No way, I've got to find my Sonic! Move aside!"

"Hold on, you might–"

Two leeches jumped at her at the same time and disappeared in the darkness below the castle wall moments later. Shadow had to step back some more to avoid splatters of green blood flying in his direction. The remaining critters stopped, clustered together and tried to retreat from the pink threat; too late.

"–get hurt?" Shadow finished quietly.

Amy shook her hammer clean of the substance, and it disappeared into thin air again. Her glance fell upon Shadow then. "Why are you just standing there? Eggman should be waiting for us, not us waiting for him."

The dark hedgehog eyed her suspiciously. Such vivid demonstration of feral rage and unbound power made him think that she at least could be not all that useless. For once, the idea of using one of the two Chaos Emeralds secured between his head quills to sneak away from the peppy gal stopped bothering his mind.

A leech chose this moment to drop on Amy's head from the ceiling.

Shadow could hear a quick gasp; next moment, the alien creature's sleek appendages extended, closing around her muzzle. He twitched involuntarily, watching her hands jerk up and scratch the purple skin uselessly. After moments of vain struggle, her body went limp and slumped on the ground.

He approached the girl, cautiously. Having never seen the Black Arms attack in such way, he felt he needed to investigate it.

First of all, he did the most sensible and useful thing possible in a situation like this. He asked, "Um, are you okay?"

The body shuddered wordlessly.

"I guess not."

A Chaos Spear to the neck would seem like a fine solution, were it someone else on Amy's place. Shadow bit his lower lip at a slight pang of guilt; after all, his inaction caused her current predicament. Now, he felt obliged to do something about it, even if it meant putting a date with Eggman over for some more time.

He poked a single yellow eye with his shoe experimentally, which earned him a squeak of discomfort from the target. Encouraged by that reaction, Shadow dealt a full-hearted kick– and hissed when the creature released more tentacles to grasp his hover skate after it. The hedgehog shook his foot violently until the purple blob tore off both Amy's head and the skate with a _slurp_ and landed meters away.

A single gun shot was all it took to finish it off.

Amy wasn't an easy case, though. There were traces of bright red and green where the leech's appendages touched her skin, and they were quickly releasing more droplets of blood. Kneeling beside her body, Shadow could make out tiny holes in her fur on the muzzle and up to the temples; bite marks. The hedgehog girl seemed to be deep unconscious…

Someone tapped him on the shoulder.

Actually, letting his guard down wasn't a smart idea, Shadow thought. They still were on the enemy ground invaded by other enemies, and there always was that tiny possibility that someone would notice them and ask what they want. Or just try and kill them.

A swipe kick brought the attacker to the ground as well. In a blink, the gun barrel was pressed into the forehead of a– tiny rabbit girl.

She frowned sorrowfully. "I just wanted to ask if Amy was okay..."

He removed the gun and got off of her. "She was bitten by an alien and now can't wake up. Does this sound like she is okay? Don't ask stupid questions."

The possibilities didn't seem spectacular. Could human scientists and doctors provide medicine from alien bites? Maybe they'd have to take… more drastic measures, in case the little Black Arms were infectious. He didn't feel enthusiastic about it.

The girl chose this moment to open her eyes. Blinking a couple of times, she made her vision focus on Shadow. "Soh-nikku?"

A sigh of slight relief escaped his lips. She was alive and didn't appear dangerous; even if it meant waving goodbye to her possible help in a fight against Eggman, he could leave her behind knowing she wouldn't get hurt any more because of him.

Amy thought otherwise, and in a matter of seconds, her hands wrapped themselves around his neck in a manner that would make any face-hugging leech die from envy. "Sonikku! You've found me! I'm so happy I could go _squee_ forever!"

He tried to shake her off, somehow, anyhow. No effect. The girl had had too much practice with the blue faker to let go of her pray that easily.

There was another tap on his shoulder. Squinting back, he found the same rabbit girl jumping on one place impatiently. "Mister Shadow, I've lost my friend!"

Amy's grip weakened, so Shadow could breathe some as she peeked above his shoulder. "Clementine, you? Shouldn't you be with your mother?"

While Cream was blinking in confusion, Shadow managed to tear Amy off. "Look, I'm not Sonic, or _Sonikku_, or whatever. I'm Shadow, see?"

She was looking up at him happily, now limp in his hands. "Yes?"

"Now, I've got a business to take care of. _Alone_."

"Yes?"

"I'm glad we understand each other."

He released her, and she was immediately on her feet by him. "Sonikku, may I save the world with you this time?"

Just great, Shadow thought. That leech had sucked her brains out. Just when he thought he could possibly start putting up with her company someday in the future.

The hedgehog turned towards Cream. "Can you watch her for me? Just – sit – here, and watch so that she doesn't get into trouble."

"I can't! I have to find Cheese!"

A blink followed from him. "Why would you need cheese at a time like this..?"

"He is my friend chao. And he is lost."

Ah, yes. Amy had told him something about it.

Alright. Breathe in, breathe out. Calm down, Shadow, he told himself. "If I find that… chao, will you look after, er, Amy?"

The pink hedgehog giggled happily. "Clementine, you look sooo funny today!"

"I'm Cream... Can you really find Cheese? He's lost among other chao Eggman caught."

"Show them to me!"

It wasn't that bad, actually, Shadow kept telling himself as he wandered through a hall swarming with chao. Find a chao with a bow-tie among chao without it, no problem. The fact the creatures, which Cream described as loveable and sociable, hurried away from him wherever he walked couldn't be too much of a problem, either.

Maybe it had to do with the gun in his left hand and droplets of blood.

Amy was murmuring something while hugging his left arm tightly. It's not that she had a bad voice; it was just if eating spoonfuls of sugar had a musical equivalent, it would sound exactly like that song.

"Can't you call your friend or something?" Shadow asked in a tired voice while holding up a chao with his free hand and studying it. The creature tried to punch him in the nose.

"I tried, but he wouldn't respond…"

Beside him, Amy suddenly stiffened. "Is it a mouse?"

"Huh?"

As the chao shuffled away from them, he could indeed hear barely audible whimpers coming from behind the stone wall. Part of it was bulged a little, as if being used to moving away to reveal a hidden passage. Cream got glued to it immediately while shouting her pet's name.

Shadow tried pushing it himself with a single hand, which resulted in spectacular nothing. He huffed towards Amy. "Weren't you going to help me?"

"Yes?"

"Behind that rock, there's a chao that needs to be saved."

She squeaked. "Oh, Sonikku, you're so caring! You're totally my hero!"

"Forget it…"

The rock was giving in, shuffling back inch by inch. Soon enough, it revealed a hole in the tunnel's floor, wide enough for an anthropomorph to get in and deep enough for the same anthropomorph to get lost there.

"How in the world did your friend get there?"

Cream kneeled over the edge. "Cheese! Cheese? Is it you?"

There was a rustle somewhere in the darkness. By the sound of it, the chao was getting away from them.

"Oh no. Cheese, you are moving in the wrong way!"

"I'll get him out," said Shadow. And added, "But I'll need two hands for that."

Amy jumped up and down in delight. "An adventure for the two of us? What are we waiting for!?" With that, she hopped into the hole before Shadow could open his mouth.

"Fantastic…"

He followed her, landing on a solid ground several meters below. Judging by how the _thump_ echoed through the place, they had entered a vast underground cavity. The hidden wall left no doubts about the origins of the place; Shadow could only hope Eggman had not have enough time to set up a surprise deadly weapon in there, busy with alien attacks and all that.

As he was narrowing his eyes, trying to adjust to almost pure darkness, Amy got glued to his hand again. Exploring the cave like this was going to be an enthralling experience.

"Mister Shadow, can you see Cheese?" Cream asked from above.

"Not yet, but I can hear it," he growled back, advancing cautiously. "Just a minute, and– what's that?"

He stopped, listening intensely. Save for Cheese's distant whining and Amy's excited breaths, there was now a steady grinding sound. Shadow didn't like it one bit.

Cream saw it first. "Oh no, the wall! It's sliding back!"

Apparently, she tried to stop it, and apparently, she failed at it, because when Shadow made a swift turn back, he could see a strip of bleak light narrowing quickly. Even before he could think of a way to make it back to the surface with Amy still stuck to him, it disappeared.

The grinding sound stopped.


	2. Part 2

**Part 2.**

.w.

_Well, you could expect that from Eggman_, Shadow thought sorely as silence reigned.

After an awkward pause, Amy giggled in pure darkness. "Are we on a date, Sonikku?"

Shadow ignored her. "Don't worry," he shouted to Cream. "I have the Chaos Emeralds to Chaos Control us out of here. Will do it when I find Cheese."

Easier said than done, he thought to himself. What do you say to allure a frightened chao?

"Um, kitty-kitty-kitty? No, won't do. Chuck, chuck, chuck…"

He moved on slowly. The passage was leading horizontally now, probably expanding as his footsteps sounded more deeply now. From the other end were coming sounds of a panicking chao.

"Chuck, chuck. Come here already…"

"It's dark here, isn't it?" said Amy.

"Really?"

"Hot, too. Or is it just me? It's so hard to breathe..."

"The air must be running out," Shadow informed her absent-mindedly, reaching forward. "Enclosed space. If we don't return soon, we'll suffocate."

"You are so adorable, Sonikku. I think you should kiss me."

"Huh?"

Now, here, wait, no, to the left, now to the right, aha! Shadow grasped something soft and pear-shaped that squeaked in his grip. Now, the Emerald...

"You know, kiss. Like this."

Next moment Shadow let out a yelp as sharp hedgehog teeth sank into his neck. The gun fell out of his contorted hand, and a miracle prevented it from going off after colliding with the ground. He released the chao and pushed the girl away, hissing as her slipping teeth ravaged the wound even more.

"Mister Shadow, miss Amy, what happened?" came Cream's distant voice.

"Amy– she attacked me! Damn it, what's wrong with you?"

He pushed his skate across the floor in an attempt to locate the gun, meanwhile covering the aching piece of flesh. While far from being lethal to him, the wound instantly made moving around awfully uncomfortable.

"Sonikku? Where are you? Don't run away from me again!" came Amy's distant whining, followed by quieting footsteps.

Shadow tried to follow her, bumped into a wall in complete darkness and cursed. Why did it all have to happen when he was so close to getting out of this pit? Now he did not only have to find the damned chao again, but also locate the girl without seeing her and prevent her from doing more stupidity during the Chaos Control.

Something small hopped onto his chest and attempted to dig into his chest fur. Shadow gasped, immediately thinking of blood-sucking alien offsprings, but relaxed just a bit as a shaking 'chao' reached his ears. He grasped a tiny shaking body with his right hand. One task down, two more to go.

"Have you got Cheese, mister Shadow?" Cream asked from afar.

"Yes, but I've lost Amy!"

"Use Cheese to find her!"

"Wha..? How?"

He never got a reply.

Something whooshed past his feet, making him back off instinctively. He peered into the blackness furiously, no matter how useless it was. Leeches or not leeches, but he couldn't guarantee the three of them were alone in the cave. Scared was not quite the right word to describe his state; tense to the point his fingertips tingled would be better.

"Amy?"

No reply.

He bent towards Cheese. "Hey, your owner said you can help me. What do you think?"

The chao pondered over it. Cream used him to attack enemies, but he doubted she would want someone to throw him at her bestest friend. What else could she mean?

Then it dawned on him. A yellow ball above his head turned into a lightbulb, which instantly lit up.

Shadow shut his eyes tightly as thin light blinded him momentary. As soon as one of his lids could finally crack open, though, pain in the eyes became the smallest of his worries. Several feet ahead of him stood Amy; her muzzle was covered with thick traces of blood, alien mixed with hedgehog, that appeared black altogether in semi-darkness. Her lips curved, forming a dreamy smile that made fur on the back of the dark hedgehog's neck stand on end.

That quickly became irrelevant to Shadow as well when he lowered his gaze to the girl's hands. Pointing straight at him was the gun he had lost after the love bite.

Cheese hiccupped at the sight, and the lightbulb went out. Shadow blinked several times, forcing glowing yellow dots out of his vision.

"Don't run away from me anymore, darling," Amy lilted.

"Crazy brat..."

Shadow calmed down almost immediately. Now that he knew where the girl was, he could easily warp them all to the surface and beat some sense into her without playing tag in the dark. He reached for his back quills–

And found nothing between them. "What the..?"

"Looking for something, my dear Sonikku?" Amy said in a singsong.

"Darn!"

Shadow began shifting sideways slowly, preparing to lunge forward and retrieve what rightfully belonged to him. And he thought Rouge left him prepared for meeting random strangers wishing to relieve him of his goods! Amy huffed soundly, eager to show how proud of herself she was.

"They will look good on our wedding rings, don't you think?" she pressed on. "Now be a sweetie, say 'cheese' and kiss me back."

"Ch-chao?"

"Oh, shut up, I didn't mean you."

She pointed the gun to where she thought the insolent chao was and fired. Shadow hissed as the searing pain exploded in his right arm – the only one he could operate painlessly. Cheese was dropped for the second time and fled with a squeak. His unfortunate protector grunted for now he lost the last available way of creating a light.

The hedgehog plunged forward and pressed the girl into the wall with his shoulder. The suddenness made her gasp and release the gun. Shadow's glee was short-lived, though, as the gun handle in her hand was immediately replaced with a hammer. One dull bump later he found himself on the ground, clutching a sore spot on his head and breathing heavily.

Amy was huffing angrily somewhere near him. He tried to stand up while supporting his body with the wounded hand, stumbled, and dropped on his knees, cursing his unwanted clumsiness.

It was getting really hard to breathe. "We'll run out of air if we don't get out!"

"Did you say you are asking me out? You have my _yes_!"

Boiling on the inside, Shadow took a deep breath to spill out all what he was thinking about her antics, and choked.

The air reeked of alien blood.

"Damn it..." he finally got to his feet, leaning to the wall for support. "Knew we weren't alone here."

"Only three of us, dear. You, me, and our love."

He could make out that the girl was approaching him slowly, using his voice as a beacon. This time, he didn't mind her initiative. "Good one. Now give me the Emeralds. Or do you think you are immortal now that an alien bit you?"

Shadow fell silent, processing his own words. In this moment of idleness, he could finally locate the source of the smell. It was getting closer, accompanied by quiet pants and girly whimpers.

He stepped aside silently with his back pressed against the wall as his eyes went wide in complete darkness. Memories of that day's events flashed before his eyes. Right before him, the alien parasite had bitten the girl, obviously contaminating her blood with something that turned her into a bloodthirsty monster, and then she, then she... His fingers closed around the wound on his neck tightly.

Sweet Chaos...

On his right, Amy ran into the wall and whined. "Sonikku, I feel lonely. Hug me!"

He gulped forcefully. Now that the first shock began to dull, his brain was working intensively. Being a naturally good healer, he didn't have to worry about the bite mark too much – it would disappear within hours like the wounds he had gotten in Westopolis or Glyptic Canyon. Blood contamination was a more serious issue; in case his body's resources weren't enough to fight the hostile germs, he'd need an external source of energy like–

Like a Chaos Emerald. A new good reason to get them back as soon as possible.

Another one was the pressing need to get rid of all alien offsprings inside the castle and in its close vicinity, since they most likely were the ones responsible for the contamination. He didn't care much about human lives lost in the war, but as long as leeches could turn humans into their vicious puppets, they had to be stopped.

Thinking about Amy, he gritted his teeth hard. Chances were, there was nothing he could do to help her now– which meant the girl's safety, as well as her ticket out of the death chamber, wasn't so important to him any longer.

Shadow breathed in deeply, calming himself down. Now that it came to this... "Chaos Spear!"

No effect. Unless someone resorted to its energy directly, the Emeralds wouldn't shine and give away their location.

"C'mon, I know you are close enough to react. Chaos Spear!"

"Are you trying to tickle me, Sonikku?" Amy murmured. Her voice was resonating weirdly now, is if there were at least two of her around. "You are doing it wrong."

Shadow forced out a wry smirk. "Come and show me."

He thought he saw something glow in the dark and rushed there, stumbled in a silly way and found himself on his knees again. A spot of light was becoming more distinguishable with every passing second, but it also was moving wherever his gaze fell, meaning it existed only within his head. The last thing he needed now was a hallucination…

Something broke in the distance. By the sound of it, Amy mistook a stone for his head.

"You are doing it wrong," Shadow breathed out. "That's not tickling."

The chao, he suddenly remembered. Something Cream advised him to make a use of. Its fate would have been the last thing that bothered the hedgehog at the moment, had it not been able to give him a less non-existent light.

"Cheese?"

He crawled forward, rummaging the floor. The stone felt like plasticine under his shaking fingers, and he thought it twitched rhythmically.

"Cheese? Good chao. Come here, I won't bite. Or will I?"

It won't come, he realized. His nostrils were crammed with suffocating smell of alien blood, so by now he must have reeked of it, too. Too scary for a tiny chao. Pear-shaped stuff never appeared tasty to him, but, apparently, it didn't matter at the moment.

Probably that's why Cheese and other chao ran from them at the beginning. The sensitive creatures could make out what had happened to Amy long before Shadow did.

Another _wham_ resonated through the passage. Several stones parted from the ceiling and rolled across the floor; one of them hit him slightly on the back of his head, and he took it as a good excuse to rest on the ground. In fact, Cheese might have been hiding from him on the ceiling, so he peered at it intently. All he saw were fancy gray dots dancing across the black. Were they all chao? Would be hard to catch them one by one…

Something crawled across his forehead towards his chest fur. He growled as a tiny leg poked him in the eye, and heard a chao whimper its apologies.

"Good boy… Light?"

The chao shook its head firmly.

"Awgh. What a waste."

Even Cheese isn't scared of me anymore, Shadow thought phlegmatically as he petted the chao with one aching hand. He was probably dying already. Or turning into a shadow cookie with cheese. Or into a semi-alien mutant. No, wait, a cookie was better. He'll probably stick to that one.

He won't infect anyone on the surface because cookies don't have teeth. And because they all will suffocate anyway.

Someone kicked him in the ribs awkwardly, and then squeaked. "Found you!"

Amy landed on his waist, pinning him to the ground. Shadow could only hope she wouldn't notice Cheese in his chest fur and squash them both with one hateful hammer swing. He could swear she was purring in Martian gently as she leaned closer to him. "Kiss?"

Shadow squinted at the figure above him. For a blurry red blob on an already grey background, she wasn't unattractive. "Hm… yes?"

"You shouldn't be so shy, Sonikku." Her voice echoed as if she was whispering in both of his ears at the same time.

She dove down and knocked her forehead into his soundly. Apparently, she was also having problems navigating her limbs. "Aww. Don't make me feel hurt."

The dark hedgehog reached forward and let his fingers get lost in her quills that felt as sharp as strawberry jelly. Encouraged by Amy's murmuring, he raised himself to plant a slight peck on her lips. He could feel the taste of his own blood, hot and salty on his tongue as he licked his lips. Or was it alien blood? Or did Amy just bite him so hard he still bled?

An hour ago, he didn't give a damn if black aliens could kiss. Now, he wondered if he and Amy were the first ones.

No, wait. They were cookies… toothless alien cookies.

Too late for the Emeralds. Eggman would think his stripy date ditched him.

"Should I call you something funny now, too?" he mumbled sotto voce. "Like Sammy? Or Ames? It's stupid…"

From Amy's quills, his palm wandered lower to her bare neck and shoulders, along the spine towards the rim of her dress. No fastener could be found there, or it felt like fabric to his blood-covered fingers. With a defiant growl he squeezed the cloth in his fist, earning a giggle from Amy. He felt an urge to bite his glove off, along with the fingers if needed, and could barely suppress it. Somehow he managed to push his digits under her dress and feel the bloody pink fur on her back.

It sent surges of blue electricity up to his elbow.

Shadow's hand moved and moved lower until he could finally feel the cold and glassy tucked away in the folds.

He smirked dreamily. "Gotcha. Chaos Control!"

Hammer in the head was a subtle caressing compared to the impact his system received after his back hit the ground on the surface. His eyes shut automatically as fierce light penetrated them, lungs exploded with non-stagnated air. An angry cry and a slap across the face from recoiling Amy were an apt addition.

There was a sound of hurried footsteps. "Miss Amy, mister Shadow, I'm so happy you are alright!"

"Clementine?" Beside the motionless dark hedgehog, Amy straightened up. "Oh, come here and give me a hug. You won't believe what this jerk–"

"Oh, no, you don't!" Shadow croaked.

Rising up fully meant wasting too much time, so he just supported himself with one elbow and gave her head a full-hearted kick. With a heart-rending whimper of betrayal, Amy lost her balance and rested face-down on the ground.

Next, Shadow had to sit up anyway to shoot an angry look at petrified Cream. "Don't come any closer."

"O-okay…"

First of all, he inspected the wound. A thin layer of fresh skin was already covering it, making its existence nearly imperceptible to him. Now that his lungs were ventilated with more or less fresh air of the indoors of the Cryptic Castle, he couldn't smell aliens anymore.

He inspected two Chaos Emeralds in his hand suspiciously. Had they helped him to clear his blood and come back to normal? The healing process went by so quickly he hadn't noticed it.

Still slightly unsure, Shadow stared at Cream, trying to figure out if he wanted to bite her. Standing in the middle of a herd of shaking chao with her hands drawn up to her chin, she looked so sweet he felt an urge to throw up and then go home. Probably it meant normal in his case.

"Um… what's wrong, mister Shadow? You are looking at me, um, strangely."

He considered telling her everything about alien leeches, strategic bites, and a gun lost in the dark. The Emeralds didn't seem to have healed Amy, so it might be a good idea to secure her without sharing details with her friend. "We wanted to play hide and seek. Amy found me, and I found Cheese. Catch!"

After a painful disentangling the chao from his chest fur and a quick toss, Cream and her dear friend were finally reunited. "But I thought you said Amy attacked you..?"

"There were moments when she was overdoing it. A bit."

"She is a nice person, actually," the rabbit girl said.

"I have no doubts about it."

Amy stirred, sitting up unsteadily. "Wha..? Shadow? Was I dreaming, or did we find Sonic?"

"You were dreaming," Shadow informed her. "But we found your friend and her chao. Happy?" Then it dawned on him. "Wait, so you pronounce the faker's name correctly now?"

She ignored the last one. "Who, Cream?" Amy jumped to her feet, finding the rabbit with her eyes. "Cream! Never, ever leave me alone like this again! You have no idea how worried I was!"

They hugged. Cheese, squeezed between two happy girls, wheezed helplessly.

Shadow got up as well slowly, feeling confused about the Emerald's postponed healing. When the girls parted, Amy squinted back at her savior. "Funny, but I don't remember anything after us finding those creepy alien creatures."

He thought of a way to let Cream know that retelling of today's events in detail wasn't entirely necessary. Too late.

"Oh, you see, Cheese ran off when we entered the castle, I tried to follow, but lost him quickly because he somehow got under that heavy rock, but I found that out later when mister Shadow joined us, back then, I tried to find him among other chao, then went to find you or mister Sonic, but saw mister Shadow save you from an alien, then you were talking funnily, but mister Shadow agreed to help me find Cheese, and you were stuck underground for so long I started worrying, but now you are here, and I'm just happy!"

Amy listened in awe. "Wow, is it true, Shadow? Did you actually save me? Thank you so much!"

He sighed and shrugged tiredly. Since the story finally got a happy ending, maybe it still was not too late to catch up with Eggman…

"Yes!" beamed Cream. "But I think he might have been more tactful about it. Kicking you in the head wasn't nice."

There was an awfully polite pause.

"Did he kick me in the head?" Amy asked in a quiet voice. The kind of quiet that makes everyone sane suddenly remember they have an urgent business to take care of in a faraway place.

"Um, yes, twice. When an alien was biting you, and about two minutes ago."

Shadow's standard deadpan turned into a deadpan of defense. "We are in the middle of an inter-species war, so all is good. I've spent my time to help you. Is it not enough?"

"He is right, Amy," Cream said. "If he hadn't done that, the monster would have tried to eat your brain!"

"Right. And you know what?" Shadow responded wryly.

"No, what?"

"If it tried, it would have to go home hungry."

This time, a Chaos Control saved him from being squashed.


End file.
